Returning to the Past
by Kira of Darkness
Summary: Dust was all her eyes could see, the rubble and rusted metal clambering to not be swallowed by the dirt. "Vale" the piece of the sign had read. She needed to do one last thing, before she could leave in peace.


The dust settled as the wind died, settling the specks over the deteriorated metal. The woman settled her dusted feet against the rusted piece, before reaching down to pick it up, her bare hands scratched at the knuckles. Her fingers bent gently around the object and she pulled it up, the specks sliding down the reddish-brown and blue colored panel. Bringing it in full view of her vision the woman scanned the object, only seeing the red, brown and blue scheme. No letters were on the plate, only the three colors mixing into the swirl that her eyes could only glance over with uninterested attention. She slowly turned the panel, her eyes catching peeling letters as the opposite side was revealed.

The woman reached her free hand up and carefully swiped the dirt off, more specks piling on the ground below her. With the panel clear, the letters were in clear view of her sight. Her grip tightened as the four letters filled her increasingly blurry vision.

_Vale,_ the piece read. Based on the seemingly jagged border of the metal plate the woman could only guess this was torn off from a much larger piece, probably a sign. She could only guess, as she craned her head up, sliding her view over the wrecked, abandoned city before her. Twenty years, maybe, the woman could only guess when she was here. Her arm fell at her command, her fingers slowly losing their grip, the piece of metal falling with a smack as it hit the dirt covered soil before her, sinking slightly into the quicksand like hold. Unwillingly her feet pressed forward, dragging her into her past, one she had abandoned many years ago.

Her feet trekked achingly past the semi standing before her. It almost looked like the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, buildings either semi or fully crumbled, their remnants being slowly devoured by the angry tornadoes of dust rolling through the wreckage each day. She didn't care her clothing was getting progressively worse as her feet marched through the once busy, bouncy streets of years before, people happily chatting as cars roared past them on the streets nearby. Her eyes scanned her devoid scenery, the wind starting to pick up pace again, the dust from the ground below yanked into the air before dropping at the inconsistent patterns of the wind.

Footsteps marched behind her. The girl swung her head, her arm going behind her. Her eyes caught retreating animals, dogs maybe, scurrying past her, running either to safety or to home. A growl was what pierced her ears next, and she took cover behind a nearby wreckage, a car, its windows shattered, the front compacted as if it went through its own wreck. Her eyes peeked through the busted door, barely attached as the rust deteriorated the hinges. A black creature rushed into the street, its eyes red, teeth bared, scorned with similar color. It paused, planting its feet firmly into the ground.

The evil creature growled low, swinging its head around. Its nostrils flared as an unfamiliar, unique smell caught its senses. The woman believed it had caught her scent, and its appetite flared for fresh meet to bite and chew through. She knew the creature would catch her position momentarily, and she knew she would have to kill it. Her hand left at her back gripped the cold steel, once she was constantly afraid of using for any reason. Rather, not afraid, but more unwilling. Her eyes widened a moment later as slow footsteps stomped towards her. The creature now had caught her position, and she had to kill it.

The predator let out a loud roar, before launching at her. In a swift movement, she flung herself over the car, feet sticking out, implanting her feet into her attacker's chest. The creature whimpered at the surprise attack, and was forced back by its meal's defense. Gravity now taking them both, the woman tucked into a ball as the two hit the ground, rolling over the evil animal. With her momentum, she flung herself back to her feet, her hands now in front of her, ready to defend herself. In the back of her mind, one lingering thought gave her hope that she didn't have to use her weapon. Maybe she could scare the creature in looking for another treat to feast on, and she didn't have to kill it.

She carefully watched the creature reset itself on its four legs, them shaking at the surprise strike on its chest. The grim animal glowered lowly, its piercing red eyes getting somehow more frightening. The woman stood her ground though, hoping to push the beast back, that she didn't have to shed blood. The beast lurched forward, pushing its hind claws out, hoping to dig into its prey's skin and churn her insides. The woman pushed forward as well, twisting her arms around to grab its left leg, using her attacker's own momentum and throwing it violently into a nearby destroyed building.

A loud crunch resonated across the area, the nearby dirt kicking up at the violent shake. The animal slid down, its fur scratching against the cold, rusted metal. It slowly stood up, its legs still shaking, its red still bared, its throat still whispering the angry growls. The woman knew this creature wouldn't give up. She closed her eyes, praying as her arm slowly trekked to grip her weapon. The creature launched forward again, shirking its teeth. As it bared closer, the woman snapped her eyes open and launched her arm out.

As a loud groan occurred, so did a piercing slice. Blood flew forward across her face as the beast limply fell behind her. The woman let her arm fall as her weapon smashed against the ground, the blood covered curved blade thrusting dirt into the air with its swift fall. She turned around and saw the beast twitch as its split throat leaked blood, staining the brown dirt below her. She knelt down as the twitching died, the monster's legs falling limp, its voice disappearing into the wind. She moved her free hand up and closed its eyes, its now dull red eyes disappearing under its black lids. The woman let her hand linger, her eyes trained on one singular scar training from her knuckle to her wrist.

She gulped a sigh and stood up, reluctantly pulling her eyes away from her sad vision of the past. She focused her attention on recoiling her weapon, resting back at her waist behind her. Once she had completed her task, her vision was once focused again on the scar soiling her hand. Her vision was blurred again, and she quickly slapped her other hand over it, curling her fingers around, her tips touching her palm. The woman quickly moved away, leaving behind the corpse she reluctantly killed just moments before, striking deeper into her memories. As she passed by even more rubble, a pattern starting catching her eyes. As she delved closer to the heart of the city, the death and destruction was getting worse and worse, and yet, less and less visible destruction was being seen. She knew her destination, why she had returned to her haunted past, twenty years later.

The woman bit her lip in anxiousness, she knew she was getting close. As every inch etched by, less and less destruction was revealing itself to her vision, but the earth below her aching feet showed enough, its color slowly changing from the dirt brown when she had entered the city, to gray, and then to black and red. She was no longer at the edge of death, she was close to ground zero. Less and less destruction was prevailing itself, until she only only saw the dust, the dust that rotted over the years after the definite it, the one that-

Her train of thought was cut as a small object in the distance caught her vision, and her eyes widened. Her feet quickened in pace, almost tripping the woman up at her sudden shift of speed. She reached her arms out as her legs trembled. Tears blurred from her eyes, memories flooded her vision. The object was getting closer, her senses had all but disappeared, she was running like the animal that had attacked her earlier, and she tripped as a result. Pain flooded her body as the wind was shut out of her body. The woman took in rapid breaths as her brain reassimilated her, her fingers trembling as her nerves sent shocks to regain control. She slowly pulled herself to her knees, her eyes scanning her scar again.

The woman gulped another large sigh, and slowly stood on her feet, her eyes staring at the block of stone before her. She slid her feet forward, stepped forward, and stopped, a foot away from her destination. She slipped onto one knee and rested her trembling hand flat against the stone, feeling the building dirt against her palm. She slid her palm down, dragging the dirt against her scarred palm, her eyes trained on her lengthy scar once again. A name under the rubble was shown, one that froze her blood.

_Yang Xiao Long_.

Seeing the name brought a chill, thinking the name brought trembling, remembering the name brought tears. The woman hiccuped a cough as she pulled her hand back, resting her two hands against the brim of her hood. She pulled back, her hair fluttering against the wind. Her eyes shone a dirtied silver, her hair losing its former shade of brilliant black and red into a fading, dust covered black, her red highlights ceasing to exist.

Ruby Rose felt her lips tremble as another tear slid down her cheek. She slipped her arms back to their respective sides, moving one of them to a small pouch attached at her waist. She curled her fingers under the small brown bag and gripped a small chain. With minimal effort she pulled the object out, revealing it to be a small necklace. She set it gently against the dirt before the tablet, resting the jewelry against the bed of dirt. With one last trembling sigh Ruby stood up and trudged away, straining one last glance at the gold lined necklace, the little heavy metal piece being her sister's old emblem, the outline rimmed in gold, the center a sparkling silver.

Ruby forcefully snapped her head in front of her as another voice pierced her ears. It wasn't a dark creature like she had killed earlier, this figure was human. The man held a gun at her, an SMG. He had a mask covering his face, carvings very familiar in her memories. A snarl formed over her face as her arm reached behind her for her weapon.

The man tightened his grip on his weapon as his stance stiffened. Ruby didn't need any vocal input, she knew this man was out to kill her. A small spark triggered in her mind, this man _was_ familiar.

He was part of what killed Yang, her sister. The destruction around her was caused by his group's deed, everything was caused by the menace that plagued her nightmares, that killed her sister. She lurched forward like the beast, hoping to brutalize what had caused her so much pain.

_For Yang._

**Kira: I made this in roughly two hours, so if it isn't that good, I apologize. I just had this sad thought in my head, and I was stressed for most of Saturday yesterday. I'm actually going to be upfront with you guys, I was trembling earlier, and I started crying. This story was made because of my stress earlier, so I hope you don't mind. I hope you enjoyed this little short, I'll be getting some sleep and hopefully working on some of my ongoing stories soon enough. :)**


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